PRC Individual Income Tax Reform

On 1 January 2019, the new Individual Income Tax Law (the “New IIT Law”) of the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) will come into effect.

The 5th session of the 13th National People’s Congress Standing Committee passed the revisions to the PRC IIT Law on 31 August 2018. The New IIT Law adopts a new tax system that introduces a comprehensive income category besides the existing individual income categories, and strengthens the existing tax law in various respects.

To facilitate implementation of the New IIT Law, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation announced on 20 October 2018 both the PRC IIT Law Implementing Regulations (Revised Draft Seeking Opinions) (“Draft Seeking Opinions“) and the IIT Specific Additional Deductions Provisional Measures (Draft Seeking Opinions) (“Provisional Measures Draft Seeking Opinions“) and initiated a solicitation of public opinions for a period of two weeks.